‘A student?’ Adrian said.
‘Maybe. Have a chat with some of the faculty in this block, see if they know anything. I’ll go and speak to the dean.’
He walked away. Adrian liked him already, which was a relief.
Adrian and Imogen made their way upstairs and knocked on the door to the psychology professor Gillian Mitchell’s office, but there was no response. The hallways started to fill with students getting to their morning lectures. There was a lot of mumbling; news of the murder had obviously got around. They knocked again.
‘Can I help you?’ A voice came from behind them.
They turned to see a blonde-haired woman, standing tall and lean in a brown linen suit. Her hair was almost iridescent in colour.
‘Are you Gillian Mitchell?’ Adrian asked.
‘Are you here about Hugh?’ the woman said.
‘Can we talk in your office?’ Imogen asked her.
‘Actually, I’d rather not. I’m waiting for someone to come up and sort out the giant spider I have locked in there. I may never go back in there again. What is it you want to know?’ She smiled.
‘Did you know Professor Norris well?’ Imogen said.
‘In passing. We weren’t friends or anything. He was a bit too chatty for my liking. Sometimes less is more. You find that with philosophers, though; they always want a bloody conversation.’
‘Not psychologists?’ Adrian mused.
‘I’m more of an observer.’
‘Did he have any enemies?’ Adrian said.
‘Absolutely not, he was a nice man.’
‘Any problem students?’ Imogen asked.
‘Here? Not really. Now and then we get one, but no one springs to mind.’
‘Did you teach any of the same students?’ Adrian followed up.
‘Sometimes we would guest on each other’s topics, try to show a different perspective, and we run the debating society in this block too. It’s got a big mix of students, mainly philosophy though; they love a debate.’
‘I see, and who was close to Professor Norris?’ Imogen asked.
‘Doctor,’ Gillian said.
‘Excuse me?’ Imogen said.
‘Technically he was a doctor, he had a doctorate, so he was a doctor, that’s his official title.’ She smiled, a hint of annoyance at having to explain it crossing her features. It seemed that Gillian might have a bit of a hang-up about her colleague’s status.
‘Was anyone close to Doctor Norris?’ Adrian said. Something about this woman was annoying him. Even though she was being pleasant, he found she had a bubbling hostility. It may just have been because they were police officers, or maybe it was something else entirely.
‘He always ate alone, seemed pleasant enough, but I never really saw him with anyone in particular. Sorry I can’t help you more.’
Adrian looked down at his notepad, then flicked back to a previous page, searching for a particular name. ‘What about Helen Lassiter? She’s got an office in this building, hasn’t she?’
‘I’m afraid she’s not in today. She’s away with some students on a trip. I’m not sure when she’s back off the top of my head.’
Adrian felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned to see Caitlin standing next to him.
‘Detective Miles.’ She smiled at him. ‘Are you here to arrest me again?’
‘You weren’t actually arrested, Miss …’ Adrian said, struggling to remember her name.
‘Watts, Caitlin Watts,’ Caitlin replied.
He noticed how she left her mouth open when she’d finished speaking, moving her tongue gently against her top lip. She was flirting with him. He looked away quickly.
‘Excuse me a moment,’ Gillian Mitchell said, ‘I just saw one of the maintenance men disappear around the corner and I really do need to get rid of this damn spider; I have notes in there I need later this morning. If that’s all?’
‘Don’t leave town,’ Imogen said as the woman hurried off, unclear if Gillian Mitchell had heard her or not.
‘You’re here about the murder?’ Caitlin said to Adrian, her head tilted back, the long line of her neck exposed, leading right into the V-neck of her clingy black sweater.
‘Do you know anything about it?’ Adrian asked.
‘Not really, except that there was lots of blood. I heard it was pretty intense.’ She smoothed her hair down, drawing his eyes to her chest. He could feel Imogen’s eyes rolling even though he couldn’t see her face.
‘We’d better be going then.’ Adrian pulled his card out of his pocket and handed it to her. ‘If you hear anything or think of anything else, then let me know.’
Caitlin took it and walked away, turning back once to look at Adrian.
Imogen and Adrian made their way out of the building and back to Adrian’s car.
‘How did you get here this morning?’ Adrian asked, being careful not to mention the fact that they had left from the same place.
‘Matt swung past my place and picked me up.’
‘Oh. OK,’ Adrian said, uncomfortable with the fact that this annoyed him.
Imogen was still trying to figure out DI Walsh. He was charming, and he genuinely seemed nice, but there was something false about him. It was the disguise of someone pretending to be happy, or at least OK. She wanted to get to know him better. From what she knew about DCI Mira Kapoor, she didn’t trust easily and for her to bring him in from another division meant that he was probably on the up and up. Imogen tried to remember a time when she wasn’t so distrusting; it had been a while.
She watched Walsh and Kapoor through the interior window; they were talking, DCI Kapoor had her hand on Matt Walsh’s shoulder, consoling him about something. She wished she knew how to lip-read, even though that was a massive invasion of privacy. She just couldn’t get the measure of him and she wasn’t sure why it was bothering her so much.
Adrian reappeared after going outside for a cigarette. She had given up and it was clearly annoying him. He was the one who gave up first, and she was the one who talked him back into it. The truth was, though, that she hadn’t felt much like smoking since her mother died; her own mortality was suddenly playing on her mind. Her life seemed to be forcing her to make some big changes at the moment, why not at least have one or two of her own choosing?
‘Anything?’ he asked.
‘What do you think they are talking about?’ She nodded towards DCI Kapoor’s office.
‘Not you,’ Adrian said. ‘Why do you care?’
‘I can’t figure him out, that’s all.’
‘What makes you think there’s something to figure out?’
‘We’re detectives, that’s our job.’
‘He’s a nice guy, let him be. If there’s anything we need to know, then we’ll find out.’
‘Are you tired or something?’
‘I’m supposed to be going to see Tom tonight, but he’s cancelled on me. I’m a bit pissed off, that’s all. I had hoped things would change now that piece of shit stepfather